This invention relates generally to woodworking procedures for forming angled corners, and more particularly to a method by which a continuous piece of wood is converted into a furniture component having one or more angled corners, each of which incorporates a circular socket to receive the end of a leg or stretcher.
In the manufacture of tables, chairs and other wood structures, it is often necessary to provide angled corners usually having a right-angle formation. For example, in the typical table, a rectangular frame is provided for supporting the table board, the legs being secured to the corners of the frame. To this end, the conventional practice is to join together four pieces of wood to form a frame, fixtures for the legs being then secured to the frame corners.
Joints for this purpose are made by traditional methods, such as by dovetailing the pieces or by mitering and dowelling. The joints are locked by adhesive bonding agents whose characteristics in good part determine the rigidity and strength of the joint.
It is also known to produce right-angle corners for frames, chair seats and other wood-formed articles from a continuous piece by first cutting grooves on the inside of the bend and then steaming the wood to facilitate bending of the piece into the desired shape. Wood bending techniques in accordance with this procedure are disclosed in the following prior U.S. Pat. Nos.: Pine, 230,437; Clark, 709,204; Huey, 190,590; Higgins, 249,468 and Owens, 2,081,638.
With the exception of the Pine patent, the corners formed by the techniques disclosed in the above-identified patents do not incorporate a socket in the formed corner to accommodate a leg or stretcher. Hence when legs are required, it becomes necessary to attach fixtures to the corners to receive the legs.
In the case of the Pine patent, arcuate cuts are made in a wood strip at spaced positions therealong, so that when the wood is steamed and then bent, circular openings are formed at the corners for the insertion of chair legs. In the Pine method, the inner side of the right angle corner lies at the tangent of the circular opening; hence the opening at that point is not surrounded by wood and represents a point of structural weakness. Moreover, the absence of wood at the inner side of the corner makes it necessary to lock the opening by means secured to the exterior of the corner.